ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court has repeatedly protected the interests of unwilling listeners inside their own homes. Within that space, a family's right to censor prevails over anyone else's right to speak. Even though it has been the only area in which there has been any real judicial recognition of the unwilling listener, the doctrine seems more a recognition of some right of privacy than of any right of private censorship. Expanding on the rights of home-dwellers to shield them from unwanted speech, the Court, in a case involving the permissibility of restrictions on picketing in residential neighbour hoods, ruled that protestors had no right to force speech into the home of an unwilling listener. The cases have acknowledged the rights of listeners to avoid certain unwanted speech, and the courts have upheld governmental regulations supporting such rights, even when those regulations interfere with the freedoms of speakers.
